The first two pictures that I got of my first girl in DR also were very serious. Then I met her…and a happier, more expressive child I had never seen! She smiled in nearly all of the pic’s I took of her, and in the recent photo I got, her smile is nothing short of dazzling. Now, I’m praying that God will protect her AND grab her heart, which I’m not at all sure He’s done, yet.

And I’m really happy for you, that you get to see that change in Youven!

Thanks for sharing Becky! I have had the exact same experience with my Selamawit from Ethiopia. When a picture comes that finally shows a beautiful smile on your sponsored child’s face you know it is the illumination of love! Nothing tops that!

What a great smile! We really need to pray for the unrest in Haiti and for the government there. Hopefully one day, we will be able to visit our children in Haiti somewhat safely… we have four children in different parts of Haiti and my family and I can’t wait to see them one day. Keep praying!!!

Thank you for sharing your story! We have seen this same thing with our little girl we sponsor in Sao Paulo Brazil. She was very shy at first and she is growing into a young confident young lady and she is all smiles now!! We have been fortunate to visit her 3 years in a row. The Sponsor visits truly make a difference in the children’s lives!!

Wow! what a wonderful thing God is doing through his people and through Compassion International.
I recently signed up to sponsor a child in my country Haiti.
Thank you for sharing your stories. Thank you for your prayer and for your giving heart. God will not fail to bless you and yours. Please pray for spiritual revival and repentance in Haiti.
Glory to God!

Thank you so much for sharing this with us. Becky. This really encouraged me. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Bolivia and a friend of mine had just sponsored a little 4 year old girl a few weeks before there. I was so privileged to meet her, but her father was paralized and her mother had a very hard time making ends meet. The little 4 year old girl was so sad. She never smiled. I gave her a little doll and she just held on to that little doll, but never smiled. I pray for her regularly. You can pray too. Her name is Carla. She was very sweet though. Reading this story really gave me hope for her, because I was kind of concerned for her. I’m glad that she does have a sponsor though that will write and will be really kind to her.

That little boy is so precious. His expressions in the pictures are very understandable. I do think he is wearing the same shirt in the first 3 pictures. The last picture was so wonderful to see. Thank you to all that make a difference in the lives of the precious children and their families and communities.

What an awesome account! My eyes filled up just reading it. Have to remember, folks, that many of the children we sponsor live in some of the poorest and most challenging places int he world. Probably not a lot to smile about most of the time. But I always thank God that I have been privileges to share a portion of my abundance with those who have so little. I have a feeling that when I first meet my sponsored child in heaven, we’ll both be wiping tears away and laughing joyously together.

The first picture I saw of my child was two years ago on the web page when I was researching a Bible quotation on another site. I had no intention of sponsoring a child at that time, so I passed it by and went on with my work. BUT he looked so sad I couldn’t get him out of my mind. I frantically went back into the cache on the PC the next day and retrieved the site with his picture and info and sponsored him immediately. Now, every picture I have of him shows a very happy child! God works in mysterious ways and is great all the time. ed

Thank you so much for this. Our sponsored son actually smiled in all his photos since we sponsored him, except for his most recent picture. Which through me into tears because a I may never know why. But your story reminded me of the perspective I need to have. I am determined to pray more, write more, & care more for him, in hope that he is smiling all the time thinking of God’s love, even if I never see it in a picture.

I’m glad I read this, I have been worried about the lack of smile in my introduction photo. I just started sponsering, and my child is only 5, so I’m hoping for many photos and smiles during the many years of friendship in the future! Thanks for giving me hope!

I wouldn’t put too much weight into the smile or lack of smile on a picture. Many centers believe that child is not allowed to smile in the picture. So, if the child smiles, they’ll retake the photo, so they get one where he/she is serious. Also, take a look at this video that I shot of a child being photographed…. You can see it’s not the most confortable situation:

I’m going to be teaching a workshop to the people taking the pictures in Bolivia. So, I’m going to be sure to mention the smiles. It’s a big deal in the USA. In other countries, that’s not quite as emphasized…. But if you met your child, she/he would probably have a huge smile all day long….

Thank you Compassion for all you do!! God Bless You! I am so thankful for the people behind Compassion working hard to improve the lives of these precious children! I am so blessed to have my precious and wonderful sponsored child!!!

Thank you so much for this comment. I so wondered why there were no smiles and it gives me extra hope that my sponsored child will be helped on the inside as well as the outside!!
God Bless you in a wonderful way!

It’s funny, but I just wrote to my sponsored child in Columbia in November and asked that he gift me with a smile in his next picture. I’d received a few pictures over the last 3 years and he never smiles, even standing next to gifts. I was concerned for his personality or thinking the environment was getting him down. I suppose there’s truth to my assumptions, but it gives me hope reading this blog and comments that it might be the process. I’m still hoping for a smile, though, in the next picture.

Hi, Suzanne, It depends a lot on the person, who takes the photographs in that center and the policies in that center and the culture. This boy might have the biggest grin on his face from day to day, but when they take a picture, he might be told to not smile. When I was in Colombia, all the kids smiled a lot. The rule is that the child’s eyes must be shown. When the center takes pictures, they don’t want their pictures to be “rejected” by the person, who handles the pictures. Then they would have to redo this same thing. It’s not easy to take these photos. If the gift is big in size, many times this person has to travel to the child’s home, which might be quite a ways and especially in Colombia, quite dangerous to go with a camera, because there are so many gangs. Thus they try to avoid having to go back. If you can, try to read the smile in what he writes. Remember in many ways, smiles for photos is a very north american tradition.

Thank you for sharing this simple post. I know as sponsors we would just give anything to see one simple smile staring back at us. For fun I even had my son take a picture without a smile and one with a smile and sent them to the children we sponsor hoping to encourage them to provide us with a gift of their smiles. And still they are as straight faced as ever. But I have not given up hope that one day a smile will be produced. I have faith that they share their smiles at their Compassion sponsored centers each day with their friends, teachers and family.

This gives me HOPE! My sweet Bithi in Bangladesh breaks my heart every morning when I look at her little face and pray over her. I try to remind myself that she is smiling when I can’t see, but your words here, and the undeniable photo, have given me hope that I will see her smile!! Thank you.